Boys lacrosse Bees fall to F-M, Cazenovia

About the only relief the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team received was the snow that shut down so many high school sports events in the opening days of April.

That weather forced a postponement of the Bees’ first meeting with defending Class A champion Liverpool, which will likely give that game a fair amount of separation from the other match between the two, which takes place Tuesday night.

That respite proved brief, though, for when the Bees returned to the field on Thursday, it was at Fayetteville-Manlius, getting overwhelmed in a 10-3 loss to the Hornets.

F-M had just knocked off long-time nemesis West Genesee 6-4 two days earlier, but did not have a letdown, especially senior forward Kevin Lux, who would beat up B’ville’s defenses.

It was Lux who started to break the game open by getting a goal midway through the first quarter and, 25 seconds later, feeding Jack Wilson for another tally that put the Bees behind 3-0.

Though Billy Hamm did get B’ville on the board late in the period, it would not score for the rest of the half, harassed by a physical, imposing F-M defense that interrupted most of the Bees’ sets before they could get settled.

A two-minute penalty at the end of the first half didn’t help, either. Trailing 6-1, the Bees saw that penalty linger into the first minute of the third quarter, where Clay Arnold and Dan Cahill both scored to extend the margin.

Then Lux, who already had four goals, tacked on two more in the latter stages, giving him six for the afternoon. B’ville couldn’t adequately answer, despite Kyle Akers and Ronnie Bertrand scoring and assists from Connor Chapman, Sean Barron and Austin McAskill. Parker Ferrigan, busy in the net, finished with 15 saves.

Two days later, the Bees traveled to Cazenovia, and while its defense did a superb job throughout the game, it still lost 5-4 in double overtime to the Lakers on the Cazenovia College turf field.

Even with early goals from Connor Cannizzaro and Brad Nardella, the Lakers could not get any distance from the Bees in the first half. In fact, it got blanked in the second quarter as B’ville, with Zach Bulak scoring twice, forced a 2-2 tie at the break.

During the third quarter, the Bees again gave up a quick goal, this time to P.J. Brown, and again settled down on defense the rest of the period. All of it seemed for naught, though, when Alex Sullivan’s tally early in the fourth quarter doubled B’ville’s deficit to 4-2.

Still, the Bees battled back, Hamm converting with 9:10 left, and continuing to probe until Bulak struck again, passing it to Steve Petrelli, who beat Lakers netminder Alex Cross for the tying goal with 3:40 to play in regulation.

Kyle Brown’s chances late in regulation to end it went wide, setting up a four-minute OT period where both sides had possible winning possessions, only to squander them as Cross and B’ville goalie Parker Ferrigan (who finished with 15 saves) made clutch stops.

So it went to a second OT. B’ville again claimed the face-off, but was turned back, Cross getting his 15th save on Bertrand’s winning attempt and allowing the Lakers another possession.

Following a time-out, Cannizzaro, quiet for most of the game, charged through B’ville defenders and sent a high shot that eluded Ferrigan and found the net to end it.

Aside from the first encounter with Liverpool (and B’ville alum Mike Felice, who coaches the Warriors), the Bees are at home Friday to take on Auburn.